Trauma Institute Helps Keep Kids Safe

from Children's Magazine, Summer 2005

KPTI's staff of five provide education and information

on safety and injury prevention for kids in Colorado,

Wyoming and western Nebraska.

Ninety percent of child safety seats are installed incorrectly.

And Colorado is one of just three states with no helmet laws at all – for bicyclists, motorcyclists or all-terrain vehicle riders.

Facts like these keep the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute (KPTI) at The Children’s Hospital busy. The staff of five work with Kiwanis clubs to provide education and information on safety and injury prevention for kids in Colorado , Wyoming and western Nebraska , said Leslie Feuerborn, KPTI prevention and education coordinator.

One of KPTI’s major roles is to ensure that parents have car seats for their children and that they are installed and used correctly, said Jim Savage, KPTI’s child passenger safety coordinator. Motor-vehicle injuries are the No. 2 reason kids are brought to Children’s emergency room with unintentional injuries; the No. 1 reason is falls.

“Most people don’t understand the dynamics of a crash and how serious the injuries can be,” Savage said.

Once a month, Savage, a certified Child Passenger Safety instructor, conducts trainings for Children’s staff, emergency personnel, community members, law enforcement and fire departments in the region. The training teaches participants how to correctly install child safety seats and check for misuse.

More than 100 Children’s staff members have been trained to distribute child safety seats to the parents of a child admitted to the hospital. These staff members – who distributed their 1,000th seat in May – also provide guidance in using the seats, provided at a reduced cost.

KPTI is developing a permanent car seat safety-check center at its main campus downtown – a place where parents and Children’s employees can make appointments for inspections.

But KPTI staff provide more than car seats and education; they have many other roles as well. One of them is providing bicycle helmets and education on their use for parents, Feuerborn said. KPTI works with community agencies and the Safe Kids Denver Metro coalition to provide the helmets – which usually cost $10 or less – at safety fairs or other community events.       

KPTI provides mobile safety education in the form of the Junglemobile, an ambulance converted to a jungle-themed classroom that has reached more than 10,000 children in just the last year and a half. And KPTI’s Injury Free Coalition provides migrant farm workers in Fort Lupton with safety tips.

KPTI also joined with Safe Kids Worldwide in recommending that children under the age of 16 not operate or ride all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) of any size, including youth-sized ATVs.

In addition to getting out more information about the dangers of ATVs,

KPTI is working to promote stronger child passenger safety laws and a bike helmet ordinance.

“Our goal is to keep kids safe – throughout the Rocky Mountain region and in rural areas,” said Theresa Rapstine, KPTI director.